1. Myst And Riven Games List
2. Myst And Riven Type Games
3. Myst And Riven Games Play

Pick up where Myst left off, and plunge into a deceptively beautiful world cursed by bewildering defects and a powerful overseer. Every shadow hides a secret, and appearances might not be what they seem. Atrus needs you once again – to untangle the truth about Riven. Myst holds a special place in the hearts of many. Released in 1993, it was unlike any video game most had seen at the time — and yet, its DNA lingers in countless games released today. Riven's story continues where Myst - and its companion novel, Myst: The Book of Atrus - left off. Your friend Atrus sends you to rescue his beloved wife Catherine, trapped on the slowly collapsing Age of Riven by Gehn. If you enjoyed Myst, you're bound to enjoy Riven! One of the most beautiful and acclaimed adventure games of all time.

I had to also install the version of Quicktime the game was originally built for, which is 6.3 if i remember correctly. I had to set compatibility mode for Myst.exe to 98/Me. I ran into a few animation issues which were solved simply by restarting the game. Riven i installed normally as well. I installed the latest version of Quicktime 7. Are you looking for puzzle adventure games like Myst? The adventure genre has slowly been declining in recent years, but there are still some great titles available on different platforms. Myst was a highly popular and critically acclaimed adventure series that spanned 1993-2005. The non-violent gameplay focused on players solving puzzles.

Riven is a puzzle adventurevideo game. It is the sequel to Myst and second in the Myst series of games. Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Red Orb Entertainment, a division of Brøderbund. Riven was distributed on five compact discs and released on October 31, 1997, in North America; it was later released on a single DVD-ROM, with improved audio and a fourteen-minute 'making-of' video. In addition to the PC versions, Riven has been ported to several other platforms.

The story of Riven is set immediately after the events of Myst. Having been rescued from the efforts of his sons, the main non-player protagonist Atrus enlists the help of the player character to free his wife from his power-hungry father, Gehn. Unlike Myst, which took place on several worlds known as Ages linked together by special books, Riven takes place almost entirely on the Age of Riven, a world slowly falling apart due to Gehn's destructive rule.

Development of Riven began soon after Myst became a success, and spanned more than three years. In an effort to create a visual style distinct from that of Myst, director Robyn Miller and his brother, producer Rand Miller recruited former Aladdinproduction designerRichard Vander Wende as a co-director. Brøderbund employed a US$10 million advertising campaign to publicize the game's release.

Riven was praised by reviewers, with the magazine Salon proclaiming that the game approaches the level of art. Critics positively noted the puzzles and immersive experience of the gameplay, though publications such as Edge felt that the nature of point-and-click gameplay limited the title heavily. The best-selling game of 1997, Riven sold 1.5 million copies in one year. After the game's release, Robyn Miller left Cyan to form his own development studio, ending the professional partnership of the two brothers. Rand stayed at Cyan and continued to work on Myst-related products including The Myst Reader and the real-time rendered game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. The next entry in the Myst series, Myst III: Exile, was developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft.

• 3Development

Gameplay[edit]

Like its predecessor, Riven is a point and click adventure game played from a first-person perspective. The player explores immersive environments depicted through a large series of computer generated stills using mouse clicks for movement or to manipulate objects within reach.^[6] By operating mechanical contraptions and deciphering codes and symbols discovered in the surroundings, the vaguely explained goal can eventually be reached.^[7]

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To navigate the world, the player simply clicks in the direction they want to walk or turn. The cursor changes in appearance, depending on its position on the screen and what it is hovering over, to show what effect clicking will have.^[6] For instance, if the player positions the cursor hand near the side of the screen, it may show a pointing finger, indicating that clicking will turn the view in that direction.^[6] The cursor also changes in context to show when players can drag or toggle switches, or when certain items can be picked up and carried.^[8] Such items can then be examined at any time,^[8][9] and either reveal clues to puzzles or provide information on the game's setting and story. Like Myst, Riven has an optional method of navigation known as Zip Mode, which allows players to skip to areas already explored, but may cause them to miss important clues.^[6]

Riven has more complex and numerous puzzles than its forerunner and is set in a larger virtual world for players to explore.^[10] Whereas in Myst the objective of the game is to travel to different Ages to solve puzzles before returning to a 'hub Age', Riven's gameplay takes place on the five islands of the Age of Riven. Much of it consists of solving puzzles to access new areas of the islands, though players are also able to explore without fulfilling objectives.^[9] The volcanic landscape depicted, with its steep cliffs and crater lakes, is bestrewn with mechanical, Victorian-style artifacts such as elevators, pipes, levers and roller coaster-like transports.^[9][10] To solve the game, players must consider the purpose and physical principles of these artifacts as well as their role in the fictional culture.^[10]

Plot[edit]

Riven's story continues where Myst and its companion novel, The Book of Atrus, left off. The player assumes the role of the Stranger, the protagonist of the first game and friend of Atrus (Rand Miller). Atrus knows the ancient art of creating 'linking books', specially written books that serve as portals to other worlds known as 'Ages'.^[11] Atrus needs the Stranger's help to free his wife, Catherine (Sheila Goold; voice by Rengin Altay), who is held hostage in her home Age of Riven, which is slowly collapsing. Her captor is Gehn (John Keston), Atrus' manipulative father and self-declared ruler of Riven. Thirty years earlier, Atrus and Catherine trapped Gehn on Riven by removing all of the linking books that led out of the Age; the very last book to be removed, linking to the Age of Myst, was the one they held to escape Riven. In the belief that it would be destroyed, they let the book fall into the Star Fissure, a rift leading out of the damaged Age of Riven into a mysterious, space-like void. Catherine was later tricked into returning to Riven by her sons, Sirrus and Achenar, whereupon she was taken hostage by Gehn. Eventually, the player discovered the unharmed Myst book, leading to the events in Myst.^[11]

At the beginning of Riven, Atrus equips the player with a trap book—a snare that functions as a one-man prison, yet looks identical to a linking book—and his personal diary. This diary summarizes the history of events leading to the present situation; Atrus cannot explain in depth as he is engaged in rewriting the descriptive book of Riven, in an attempt to slow its deterioration. The player must enter the Age with no way of leaving, as Atrus cannot risk sending a real linking book to Riven until Gehn is safely imprisoned lest he use it to escape Riven.^[9] Instructing the player to capture Gehn in the trap book, find Catherine, and then signal him, Atrus holds out the link book that will transport the player to Riven.

Once there, the player explores the islands of Riven, eventually discovering Catherine's prison. The player also travels to Tay, the Age of the Moiety (rebellious Rivenese under the leadership of Catherine who are attempting to end Gehn's tyrannical rule), and the '233rd Age', Gehn's personal sanctuary, where the player meets Gehn himself. Gehn attempts to convince the player that his intentions to rebuild D'ni (the civilization responsible for originating the art of the link books) were honorable and that he seeks atonement for his past transgressions. Because of the decay of Riven's structure, the only way to clearly signal Atrus is to bring about a massive disturbance in the Age's stability—accomplished by reopening the Star Fissure, which Gehn had closed. When it opens, Atrus immediately links to Riven to investigate and meets the player at the brink of the Fissure. Depending on the player's actions, the ending to Rivenvaries. In the best ending, the player tricks Gehn into the prison book and releases Catherine. Atrus and Catherine thank the Stranger before linking back to the Age of Myst. The Stranger then falls into the Star Fissure to be taken on the path back to his world. The worst ending involves neither capturing Gehn nor releasing Catherine, which allows Gehn to kill Atrus (and then the player) and escape from his imprisonment. Other endings include capturing Gehn without saving Catherine, or being trapped in the prison book.

Development[edit]

Cyan began work on Rivenin 1993, immediately after Myst's release. Before development began, when even the name of the game was undecided, the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller said they wanted a 'natural flow' from the first game to the sequel.^[13] As Myst proved to be a popular and commercial success, the two developers were able to expand their four-person team to a much larger crew of designers, artists, programmers, and sound designers.^[1] Development spanned more than four years, and was a much larger undertaking than for the first game;^[1]Riven had a budget of between US$5 and $10 million, more than ten times the cost of developing Myst.^[14] Prior to release, Atari Corporation were in talks with Sunsoft, who previously published Myst to the Sega Saturn in regards for a potential conversion of Riven to the Atari Jaguar that never materialized.^[15]

The design for Riven stemmed from a desire to create something different and more dynamic than the romantic style of Myst. At an early point, the game's world was to be called Equiquay.^[16] The first stage of development was to create the puzzles, in an attempt to integrate them as smoothly as possible into the areas in the game. The Millers met their co-designer, Richard Vander Wende, at a demonstration of Myst for the Digital World Expo in Los Angeles.^[1] Vander Wende had previously worked for ILM,^[1] and at Disney as a designer for the animated feature Aladdin.^[10] As the third member of Riven's conceptual team, Vander Wende ended up contributing what Robyn Miller described as an 'edgier' and complementary vision, that made the game dramatically different than its predecessor.^[1]

At the time of Riven's development, publisher Brøderbund was facing falling revenues as development costs rose. Two years into the project, Cyan still had nothing they could show them.^[10] Brøderbund's stock dropped from $60 a share to $22 in 1996, because of a delay in the publishing of Riven.^[17] The plan had been to ship the game in time for the 1996 holiday season;^[9][10]Riven was finally published on October 29, 1997.^[2] Even though Riven's sales were expected to be higher than any other game that holiday season, Brøderbund launched a $10 million marketing campaign^[17] and developed a retail marketing partnership with Toshiba America.^[18] Anticipation for the game was high even among non-gamers, helped by web-based word of mouth and well-placed media coverage.^[7][19]

Graphics[edit]

As in Myst, the topology of the islands was originally created as grayscale images, where brightness corresponded to elevation.^[1][10] In Softimage, these maps were turned into the terrain models seen in the game.^[10][20] The large island objects were broken apart to facilitate efficient rendering, which required them to be created using polygonal geometry.^[20] All other objects were modeled using B-splines and NURBS.^[20]

Many of the textures were accumulated during a three-day trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The artists took hundreds of photos of wood, adobe, sand, stucco and other materials, which were treated in Photoshop before being mapped onto the 3D geometry.^[1][20] Whereas many computer-generated environments of the time ended up looking smooth, like plastic,^[1] the Millers and Vander Wende developed a more gritty and weathered design, with corroded and aged elements, to imply reality.^[1][10] The artists considered how objects would look and function if they were real, where and how they would be worn, and created corresponding details.^[20] While bump maps were occasionally used to simulate geometry, even small details such as screws were often individually modeled.^[20]

Rendering was executed in Mental Ray, using numerous custom-made shaders to produce lifelike lighting, water and landscapes.^[20]Wireframes also served as a guide to model the backgrounds.^[21] In total Riven has over three hours of video^[10] and almost five thousand images;^[1] rendering was a major bottleneck in production despite the use of 18 dedicated workstations.^[20] Some scenes consisted of tens of thousands of individual models and textures and more than a hundred virtual light sources. Loading a single island model could take two hours.^[20] Runtime animation effects were created by Mark DeForest, to add flying insects and simple water ripples.^[20]

Riven combined the pre-rendered backgrounds with live action footage, in order to increase the player's immersion level.^[1][9]Riven was the first game in which any of its designers had directed live actors, and Vander Wende was apprehensive about their use.^[1] Rand Miller had to reprise his role of Atrus from Myst, even though he hated acting.^[10] All the actors were filmed with a blue screen as a backdrop, which was removed in post-production by chroma key, so that the actors would blend into the virtual environment.^[10] Real world stairs, doorways and studio lights had to be meticulously positioned on the live stage to match their CG equivalents. Some sequences were seamlessly cut together with morphing, to allow for partial variations due to the nonlinearity of the gameplay.^[20]

Audio[edit]

Robyn Miller composed Riven's music, which was later packaged and released by Virgin Records as Riven: The Soundtrack. Miller designed the liner notes and packaging, which included English translations of the language found in the game.^[22] Whereas the music to Myst was, at first, only available by mail-order from Cyan, Virgin Records had bought the rights to release it initially, prompting Miller to make sure that it could stand alone in CD form.^[23] The compact disc was released on February 24, 1998, with 54 minutes of music.^[24]

Miller established three leitmotifs for the game's three central characters, Atrus, Catherine, and Gehn.^[25] Gehn's theme is only heard in its complete form near the end of the game, but portions of the melody can be heard throughout Riven, highlighting his control of the Age.^[26] Miller tried to let the environment dictate the resulting sound in order to make the music as immersive as possible.^[22] He blended live instrumentation with synthesizers: 'By mixing and matching conventional instrumentation, you can create an odd, interesting mood,' Miller said. Ultimately, he wanted the music of Riven to reflect the game itself, which he described as having 'a familiar-yet-strange feel to it.'^[25]

Myst And Riven Games List

Miller described his biggest challenge in writing Riven's music as reconciling the linear, pleasing construction of music with the nonlinearity of the gameplay. As players can freely explore all areas, Miller explained in an interview, 'the music can't say anything too specific. If it says something, if it builds in intensity and there starts to be a climax, and people are just standing in a room looking around, and they're thinking 'What's going on in here? Is something about to jump out from behind me?' You can't have the basic parts of music that you'd like to have, you can't have a basic structure. It's all got to be just flowing, and continue to flow.'^[23]Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine argued that the soundtrack is 'appealingly atmospheric', but 'lacks definition', and that the music loses impact when separated from the game.^[24]

Reception[edit]

Myst And Riven Type Games

Riven was generally positively received by critics, with the PC version garnering an average critic score of 83/100 at Metacritic.^[29] The game sold more than 1.5 million units within a year of its release, and was the best-selling game of 1997,^[37] despite having only been on the market for less than three months. Myst or Riven held the number one and two spots on the PC Data sales charts from June 1997 until January 1998.^[38] By 2001, over 4.5 million units had been sold.^[39]

Jeff Segstack of GameSpot gave the game high marks, explaining that it is 'a leisurely paced, all-encompassing, mentally challenging experience. If you enjoyed Myst, you'll thoroughly enjoy Riven.'^[34]Computer Gaming World stated that the graphics were the best they had seen in any adventure game.^[40] Laura Miller of Salon declared that 'Art [..] is what Riven approaches,' and praised the gameplay as having 'a graceful elegance that reminds [her] of a masterfully constructed novel.'^[41] The game's sound and graphics were consistently praised.^{[7][11][19][33][34]}Macworld's Michael Gowan highlighted the game's 'rich, engrossingly mysterious world', and he argued that the quality of its storytelling made Riven 'more like a good novel than a computer game.'^[36]

Nevertheless, several publications found fault with aspects of Riven. Computer Gaming World felt that the gameplay was too similar to the original Myst, making Riven the 'same game with a new title'; the magazine also criticized the minimal character interaction.^[40] Gaming magazine Edge felt that although Riven was a good game, the solitary atmosphere and lack of mobility was steadily becoming outdated, as games like Super Mario 64 sacrificed graphical fidelity for an increase in freedom. They stated 'the question is whether Cyan can incorporate its almost Tolkien-esque world-building skills into a more cutting-edge game vehicle next time.'^[32] Even long-time players of the Myst games, such as Heidi Fournier of Adventure Gamers, felt that a few puzzles were too difficult;^[31]Computer and Video Games, meanwhile, believed that the story clues were too symbolic and scant, which made following the plot difficult.^[42]Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that 'Your aunt who just bought a Packard Bell will no doubt be enthralled, but anyone with a mature palate has surely seen it all before.'^[35]

Despite the success of the game, the Miller brothers eventually pursued other projects. Robyn Miller said: 'I think it would be a detriment to always, for the rest of our lives, be creating Myst-like projects. […] We're going to change, evolve and grow, just like any person does in any manner.'^[13] Robyn would leave Cyan to form a new development company called Land of Point;^[43] Vander Wende would also leave to pursue other projects.^[37] The next video game entry in the Myst franchise would be 2001's Myst III: Exile, which was not developed by Cyan nor published by Brøderbund. Presto Studios took over development; Ubisoft acquired Brøderbund's entertainment library from The Learning Company and published the Myst sequels.^[44][45]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^{abcdefghijklm}Robyn and Rand Miller, Cyan (1997). The Making of Riven: The Sequel to Myst (CD-ROM). Cyan/Brøderbund.
2. ^ ^abcd'GameSpy Game Catalog Riven'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
3. ^'Myst and Riven Now Available at GOG.com'. CyanWorlds.com. January 30, 2009. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
4. ^'Cyan Complete Pack on Steam'. Store.steampowered.com. Archived from the original on May 21, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
5. ^'iOS Riven! The Stunning Sequel to Myst is Here'. CyanWorlds.com. January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on August 8, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
6. ^ ^abcdCyan (1997). Riven: The Sequel to Myst - User's Manual. 'Playing the Game' (Windows version ed.). Brøderbund. pp. 9–10.
7. ^ ^abcMaines, Stephen (November 4, 1997). 'Riven Picks Up Where Best-Selling Myst Left Off'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 18, 2015.
8. ^ ^abCyan (1997). Riven: The Sequel to Myst - User's Manual. 'Manipulating Objects' (Windows version ed.). Brøderbund. pp. 11–12.
9. ^ ^abcdefMuldoon, Moira (October 31, 1997). 'Featured Preview: Riven'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 15, 2006. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
10. ^ ^abcdefghijklCarroll, John (September 1997). '(D)Riven'. Wired. Vol. 5 no. 9. pp. 1–15. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012.
11. ^ ^abcStreitfeld, David (November 1, 1997). 'Another Myst Opportunity; With Riven, Fans Can Click On, and On, and On'. The Washington Post. p. C1.
12. ^'Riven Backstage: Building Blocks - Research Expedition'. Cyan Worlds. 1997. Archived from the original on March 3, 2000. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
13. ^ ^abBaxter, Steve; Nelson, Brian (October 31, 1997). 'Fans say Riven release lives up to hype'. CNN. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2008.
14. ^Takashi, Dean (August 26, 1997). 'Can Myst's Sequel Live Up to Expectations?'. The Wall Street Journal.
15. ^Dragon, Lost (July 5, 2017). 'The Ultimate Jaguar Unreleased/Beta/Source/Dev Master List! - Page 5'. atari.io. Archived from the original on November 4, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
16. ^Carroll, John (August 1994). 'Guerrillas in the Myst'. Wired. Vol. 2 no. 8. Archived from the original on February 9, 2011.
17. ^ ^abBrowder, Seanna (October 6, 1997). 'More Magic From the Makers of 'Myst'?'. BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2008.
18. ^Winkler, Eric (March 8, 1998). 'Riven: The Sequel to Myst Tops 1 Million Units Sold Through to Consumers in North America'. Business Wire.
19. ^ ^abSaunders, Michael (November 9, 1997). 'Riven opens door to mystical world'. The Boston Globe.
20. ^ ^abcdefghijkForcade, Tim (February 1998). 'Unraveling Riven'. Computer Graphics World.
21. ^Joseph O. Holmes (February 1998). 'Riven - MacAddict' (18). MacAddict: 53. Retrieved July 9, 2017.Cite journal requires journal= (help)
22. ^ ^abSchein, Amy (February 1, 1998). 'Out of the Myst comes Riven, the soundtrack'. Houston Chronicle.
23. ^ ^abThomas, David (May 8, 1998). 'Mastermind of Myst, Riven also has a talent for music'. The Denver Post.
24. ^ ^abErlewine, Stephen Thomas. 'Riven: The Sequel to Myst'. Allmusic. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
25. ^ ^abMiller, Robyn (1997). 'Introduction'. Riven: The Soundtrack (Media notes). Virgin Records.
26. ^Virgin Records America (1997). 'Riven: The Soundtrack product page'. Virgin Records. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
27. ^'Riven: The Sequel to Myst for PC'. GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
28. ^'Riven: The Sequel to Myst for PlayStation'. GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
29. ^ ^ab'Riven: The Sequel to Myst for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
30. ^'Riven: The Sequel to Myst for iPhone/iPad Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 24, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
31. ^ ^abFournier, Heidi (May 20, 2002). 'Riven Review'. Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on June 7, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2008.
32. ^ ^abStaff (December 1997). 'Riven Review'. Edge. No. 4. Future Publishing. p. 96.
33. ^ ^abGarcia, Thomas (October 1, 1997). 'Riven comes a' tap-tap-tapping at your door'. Game Revolution. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
34. ^ ^abcSengstack, Jeff (November 3, 1997). 'Riven: The Sequel to Myst'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 16, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2008.
35. ^ ^ab'Finals'. Next Generation. No. 38. Imagine Media. February 1998. p. 122.
36. ^ ^abGowan, Michael (February 1999). 'Name Your Game; From Goofy to Gory, Macworld Reviews 48 Ways to Play'. Macworld. Archived from the original on August 10, 2001.
37. ^ ^abLillington, Karen (March 2, 1998). ''Myst' Partnership is Riven'. Salon. Archived from the original on September 13, 2001. Retrieved April 9, 2008.
38. ^Staff (March 1998). 'New Titles on Top'(PDF). Game Developer. UBM Tech (28): 13.
39. ^Pham, Alex (May 17, 2001). 'Game Design; Adding Texture, Detail to Miller Brothers' Legacy'. Los Angeles Times. p. T4. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013.
40. ^ ^abStaff (January 1998). 'Myst Again'. Computer Gaming World.
41. ^Miller, Laura (November 6, 1997). 'Riven Rapt'. Salon. Archived from the original on January 4, 2003. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
42. ^Staff (August 31, 2001). 'PC Review: Riven'. Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
43. ^Staff (March 5, 1998). 'Robyn Miller, Co-creator of Riven and Myst, Forms New Development Company Called Land of Point'. Business Wire. p. 1.
44. ^Uhler, Greg (October 2001). 'Presto Studios' Myst III: Exile'. Game Developer. Vol. 8 no. 10. pp. 40–47.
45. ^Judson, Peter (March 7, 2001). 'UbiSoft Aquires Entertainment Division of the Learning Company'. Neoseeker. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2013.

External links[edit]

• Riven at Cyan Worlds
• Riven: The Sequel to Myst at MobyGames
• Riven: The Sequel to Myst on IMDb

• HubPages»

Are you looking for puzzle adventure games like Myst? The adventure genre has slowly been declining in recent years, but there are still some great titles available on different platforms.

Myst was a highly popular and critically acclaimed adventure series that spanned 1993-2005. The non-violent gameplay focused on players solving puzzles and attracted a massive casual audience (including myself). The Myst series offers challenging, complex puzzles, simple but beautiful graphics, and deep rewarding gameplay.

Myst was one of the first puzzle adventures I ever played, and still one of the best after all these years. I hope you enjoy this collection of similar experiences that I've put together. Please let me know in the comments section which alternative is your favourite, or share any games like Myst that you think I missed.

Which Myst Game Is Your Favourite?

1: The Myst Series

The Myst series is a great place to start, if you haven't already played all six titles. They all offer a similar style of gameplay and polish. If you are yet to play them all, you are truly missing out on a wealth of puzzle adventures.

The majority of the series is available on Windows and Mac, making this platform your ideal option if you want to play them all. However, some are available for other platforms including Windows Phone, iOS, Xbox and PlayStation.

Please be careful if you decide to purchase some of the older titles in the Myst series in their physical boxes as the age of these titles opens up a number of potential system issues. If you are unsure, please make a digital purchase through Good Old Games (GOG.com) instead.

This will guarantee that the game will work on your computer system as all games in the GOG collection have been updated to work in current versions of Windows (and you won't ever lose your copy again).

Myst Game Summary

2: The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour

The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour are puzzle adventures developed by Trilobyte at around the same time as the original Myst. This pair was a great success on PC and Mac and has since been ported over to iOS devices.

Players find themselves wandering through a mansion as they solve a variety of logical puzzles and unlock the story behind themselves, the mansion and their amnesia. Both of these games were the reason I got hooked on puzzle adventures such as Myst. These experiences are ones that many older gamers will remember and accordingly I cannot recommend them enough.

Similar to the Myst titles I strongly recommend purchasing these options through GOG.com to ensure complete compatibility with new computer systems and versions of Windows.

The 7th Guest Review

3. Machinarium

Machinarium is a puzzle adventure designed around a point-and-click interface. The gameplay and feel of Machinarium are very similar to that of Myst, despite Machinarium being point-and-click. The game was originally available on Windows, Mac and Linux but has since been added to iOS devices and Android.

In Machinarium you solve various brain teasers and puzzles that are linked together through an overworld. Machinarium is a unique adventure story that contains no dialogue (spoken or written), and apart from a few early tutorial prompts, the game does not use any form of understandable language, instead relying on animated thought bubbles.

To aid players, Machinarium offers a hint system involving two tiers. In each level, the player may receive one hint (although these become vaguer the further you advance through the story). Alternatively a walkthrough can be accessed at any time by completing a mini-game.

The word free world of Machinarium makes it a curiously fascinating adventure and appropriate for those seeking something less intense than Myst in the puzzle department (thanks to the help systems in place).

Machinarium Trailer

4. The Secret of Grisly Manor

The Secret of Grisly Manor has you exploring your uncle's mansion, solving puzzles and looking for clues to find out what has happened to him.

It offers a great puzzle adventure experience and is available on your portable devices (Android and iOS). In my opinion it is one of the best in the mobile space with very few titles offering the level of depth that you'll find within the game.

The Secret of Grisly Manor is slightly on the easy side when it comes to puzzle games though, making it perfect for younger children or novice puzzle adventurers, and a great way to break into the genre.

The Secret of Grisly Manor Trailer

5. Axel & Pixel

Axel & Pixel is a point-and-click puzzle adventure that was released in 2009 on the Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360. In 2010, it was also released on Steam for Windows.

The game follows a painter named Axel and his dog Pixel, who wake up in a dream world that is both unique, memorising and frightening. Together they must solve the various mysteries and puzzles and ultimately escape while fulfilling Axel's dream.

Axel & Pixel is your traditional point-and-click-style adventure and features many logic-based puzzles and riddles while presenting them in a unique way. The game contains four different chapters based on the four seasons and also features three different mini-games that are played several times throughout the adventure.

I found Axel and Pixel a unique experience, the mixture of mysteries, puzzle, and mini games had me hooked very early on, and it had a very Myst feel to it, despite being quite different in many ways.

Axel and Pixel is an absolute bargain right now for the amount of content (24 game chapters in total). While the world and gameplay is a slight jump away from what Myst offers the overall vibe is very comparable.

Axel & Pixel Gameplay

6: Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia is a survival/horror/puzzle blend, while it doesn't have a large puzzle focus like Myst, the game offers great (and scary) gameplay with some puzzles thrown in.

The title follows the journey of Daniel as he explores a dark castle while avoiding monsters and solving puzzles. The game includes physical object interaction, physics-based puzzles, and a insanity bar mechanic.

Uniquely, there are no weapons in Amnesia, which forces the player to rely on stealth and hiding to avoid the monsters that are present in the castle. Players must also manage their sanity, which decreases the longer the player is in darkness or when they witness a scary event.

To counter insanity, players must rely on the few light sources available in the world. Another unique feature of Amnesia is the lack of toggles on objects that you can interact with; for example, players must actually push or pull doors open with their mouse.

If you find that you enjoy Amnesia, I recommend also looking at Penumbra which has very similar gameplay elements.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent Trailer

7. Drawn Series

The Drawn series is a casual adventure collection with a focus on puzzle solving. If you prefer the hardcore puzzles then Drawn is best skipped for the more difficult experiences featured above.

Each title within the series offers an impressively unique art style, compelling storyline and amazing worlds that can be explored thoroughly. It's an absolute must play in order though as each game is intimately connected through the story and setting. You'll find that characters and game references also overlap so playing the titles in order does ensure the full experience.

There are three games available in the Drawn series; The Painted Tower, Dark Flight and Trail of Shadows (the games are available on Windows, Mac and iOS devices).

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Drawn is one of my favourite casual puzzle games, while it won't test your brain as much as the other options on this list it's slower paced approach is a nice change of pace and shifts the focus towards the story and characters.

Starting with your rescue of Iris in the Paint Tower her ability to turn drawings into real-life objects is a core mechanic that will serve you right up until the final story of a young by captured in the painted world of an evil wizard.

Drawn: The Painted Tower

8. Gray Matter

Gray Matter is an adventure point-and-click available for Windows and the Xbox 360 with a slightly darker storyline to those previously featured here.

The majority of the game takes place in Oxford and follows the story of a street performer and magician named Samantha and a strange neurobiologist known as Professor David Styles.

The puzzles in Gray Matter have great variety and include word games, riddles, magic tricks and mazes, all of which have a balanced difficultly level to keep you progressing forward at a consistent pace.

Even though the game is entirely controlled with a point-and-click interface it still has a very Myst feel to it due to the story unfolds and the general puzzle designs.

Gray Matter Intro

9. Portal Series

The puzzle-focused games in the Portal series may lack the clue-collecting and variety of puzzles that Myst offers, but still deserves inclusion on this list simply for its amazing physics-based puzzles and dark humour. Both titles are very enjoyable and if you are a fan of solving puzzles you won't be disappointed.

In the Portal games, players are armed with the portal gun, which creates two connected wormholes between any two flat surfaces. The titles also has many other puzzle mechanics, including bridges, turrets, lasers and companion cubes.

The Portal series has had critical success and offer a great puzzle-based experience with Portal 2 introducing co-operative play to the series with great success.

I recommend picking up both titles at once in the handy Portal bundle which provides access to both games for one convenient price, while the games aren't directly related playing them in order will let you get a better grasp of the mechanics and any running jokes in the series.

Portal 2 Gameplay

Myst And Riven Games Play

Share Your Memories of Myst Below or Recommend Another Game

• I'm surprised neither Kings Quest or Antichamber were listed. Kings Quest is an older point and click series, and Antichamber is a more recently released bizarre optical illusion of a game, both are amazing puzzle games/series. I was just playing Kings Quest 6 earlier today ^_^

• Thanks a million! Myst is my all time fav, Kings quest were also really good but might be too outdated now, def gonna try the rest out if I can find them!

• We just released a new iPad adventure game called Puzzle House: Mystery Rising. which is similar in many ways to Myst and The Room series. It has the 3D control like the room, but adds a 3D journal, and a robot visitor who helps you solve some of the puzzles. It is the first game of three planned games.

• Check out the new puzzle/adventure game 'Tall Tails' just released on IOS for free…don`t let the cuteness fool you…this game will Break Your Brain (in a good way)

• the black mirror series is also a great choice for adventure gamers especially the first and the second parts

• I never understood why they call these 'adventure' games. Isn't every game supposed to involve some kind of adventure? I always thought of them as being puzzle games.

  Anyway, it's just too bad that most of these aren't available for my system, which runs Linux.

• Riddle of the Sphinx was fun too - set in Egypt of course.

• I'm amazed nobody mentioned sanitarium! Definitely one of the best and creepy bizarre puzzle games out there. Should be #4 for sure!

• I like them all, but Machinarium is the best. Thank you for the list :)

• I love adventure games but wasn't a huge fan of the maze style. You have some great games here like the Drawn series and some I will try. Great list thanks.

• @anonymous: I also LOVED Shivers and didn't find Harvest nearly as good but Shivers is a great game that I never hear talked about!

• @anonymous: LOVE Shivers to this day.. I recently had to give it to my brother and his wife to re-play. It's a family favorite.

• I think Portal 2 is the best choice out of all the other puzzle games listed on here.

• No one has mentioned another Sierra game that was point and click and was just awesome at around the same time of Myst. Called Shivers there was also a sequel Shivers 2 Harvest of the Soul but although the puzzles were hard it just didn't have the coolness of wondering around an abandon Museum that had cool unique music in each room. Shivers 1 was my favorite next to Myst back in the mid 90's.

• I just released a new iPad adventure game called Tipping Point which is similar in many ways to Myst.

• @anonymous: Thank you AnnaB! We love Myst and Lost City and Grisly Manor and Zork .. so much that we decided to make one, it has taken a lot to make our first, hope to have the sequel out much faster, stay tuned! - Dave, SkyHorse Interactive

• I just got Vanished: The Island, and so far it's great.

• One of my favorite games like Myst was the Zork series. Zork Nemesis was fantastic and took my quite a while to play. I wish game makers would realize that not every game has to be about shooting and killing. Some of us older gamers still enjoy games like Myst and Zork.

• Thanks for the list. I wish there were more games offered for the Mac OS. :/ Also, someone already mentioned these, but the Syberia games were definitely great fun!

• you overlooked Nancy Drew games. Very puzzle oriented, click and move, games that require thinking! Quite a rare breed of computer games, but those are also fun.

• Definatly i would try portal 2 and portal 1. best games i have EVER played. non violent and have hard puzzles to solve. give it a good try!

• @johnsja: i totally agree with you and the kids times. we played lighthouse by sierra and it scared the pants off us, lol. great times

• I always enjoyed the Syberia games; a bit less challenging than Myst, but fun; and Portal 1 & 2 are hilarious as well as challenging (or should I say testing?). Great lens.

• @anonymous: The Room is awesome! Great way to get hooked back into these types of games. I loved Myst and am really happy to find it available for iOS

• Myst used to be one of my favorites.

• I played Myst years ago and loved it. I then graduated to Riven but found it a lot harder and eventually I gave in. The kids used to sit with me and help me play. Now that I think about it I sure do miss those days. Might have to get it out again and have another go.

• I have tried the drawn series and it is a great game to play for the whole family.

• Myst was by far one of the best puzzle games I ever played.

• Love Myst the game. I think I still have the PC version. Great list of games.

• Myst itself!

• Lighthouse was by far my favorite game after myst. Very similar

• My husband used to play Myst before we had kids - he's trying to get my son to have a try now.